Issue Notes

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN ARCHIVES VOL. 1 reprints the original 1950s tales of four death defying adventurers and their impossible and unimaginable exploits. After surviving the crash of a small aircraft, test pilot Ace Morgan, daredevil Red Ryan, heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Davis, and marine scientist Professor Haley unite themselves in a mission to explore the unexplainable for the good of mankind. This beautiful hardcover edition tells the earliest adventurers of these four men of different backgrounds and personalities as they encounter powerful aliens, deadly robots, and creatures of unknown origins. Black-and-white reconstruction on selected interior pages by Rick Keene. Series design by Alex Jay/Studio J. Publication design by Peter Hamboussi. Special thanks to John Morrow for source material.

Indexer Notes

First appearance of the Challengers of the Unknown. According to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby historians, Jack Kirby brought the proposal for the Challengers to DC. DC bought the concept and folded it into Showcase. Yet the DC Archive cites Dave Wood as the writer. So did Dave Wood rewrite Jack Kirby's dialogue?

Indexer Notes

Marvin Stein listed as inker in DC Archive credits, but per Stein's conversations with Greg Theakston, he did not ink any Challengers stories. Letters credit from Rodrigo Baeza via the editor e-mail list on March 5, 2007.

Indexer Notes

Marvin Stein listed as inker in DC Archive credits, but per Stein's conversations with Greg Theakston, he did not ink any Challengers stories. Letters credit from Rodrigo Baeza via the editor e-mail list on March 5, 2007.

Indexer Notes

Marvin Stein listed as inker in DC Archive credits, but per Stein's conversations with Greg Theakston, he did not ink any Challengers stories. Letters credit from Rodrigo Baeza via the editor e-mail list on March 5, 2007.

Indexer Notes

Marvin Stein listed as inker in DC Archive credits, but per Stein's conversations with Greg Theakston, he did not ink any Challengers stories. Letters credit from Rodrigo Baeza via the editor e-mail list on March 5, 2007.

Indexer Notes

The name ULTIVAC is derived from UNIVAC, considered the first computer. Marvin Stien listed as inker in DC Archive, but per Stein's conversations with Greg Theakston, he did not ink any Challengers stories.

At the Pentagon, Navy officers and scientists are stumped. Two scientists mysteriously disappeared in Antarctica. They call in "men capable of handling the unknown". Ace takes the call. He, Rocky, and Red fly. They'll pick up Prof along the way. Off New Guinea, Prof is astounded to find a volcano rising from the sea bed. In the Antarctic, the Challengers snow-tractor toward the mystery spot. The tractor bogs in a snowstorm and needs repairs. Ace and Rocky explore and fall through thin ice! They land on a futuristic bridge. Above, Prof and Red are captured by skinny orange aliens in bubble-suits.

Prisoners, two Challengers are dropped down a miles-deep airlift. Ace and Rocky find an airshaft and search for miles. The gravity is lighter and they half-float. Finally they reach a vast underground super-city of aliens - with an army ready for invasion! Ace tries to capture a sentry, but the alien anticipates his every move with its computer-like mind. All four Challs are imprisoned with the missing scientists. The aliens are planting charges all over the world to blow away chunks and reduce Earth's mass, so they can live comfortably among enslaved humans. They've conquered whole galaxies this way. Prof realizes the undersea volcano was a test. The Challengers think frantically. How to outwit the aliens? Their super-brains must need rest. Catch one half-asleep and...

The Challengers summon an alien during the night and succeed in hypnotizing them. The docile alien leads them out a secret panel to a gravity control room. The Challengers crank the gravity high, pinning the aliens to the ground. How to escape? The aliens use "electronic transmission". Ace and Rocky will try to destroy the main detonator from this end. Prof and Red teleport to Washington to alert the military. Prof is given a wearable minisub and torpedo-dives to dismantle one planet-cracking bomb. The Air Force and Navy arrive off Antarctica and shell the hell out of the Tyrans' invasion force. Underground, Ace and Rocky and the two scientists flee a gas attack and gun-cars. One scientist remembers the power comes from a core tap. Cranking a valve brings raging heat that crisps aliens and slags the bomb detonator. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, a wild claw-machine erupts from the ocean to attack the Navy.

On the Pacific island, Red sprays a new secret chemical weapon, a corrosive gas that eats the machine. Soon Ace leads a fleet of bombers to pound what's left of the alien base, and the menace is over. Their only casualty is Prof, who caught a cold diving off the South Pole!

A prospector uncovers a monster, an indestructible one-eyed walking box that tramples villages. The Challengers's weapons don't make a dent. And June mysteriously sabotages their efforts! Prof finally guesses the monster's one eye is solar-powered. Pursued until sunset, the monster expires. June had run a computer program that predicted the Challengers would die, hence her sabotage. But her efforts changed the equation, so she saved the day!

The Challengers pursue Roc, a would-be conqueror. Using "mind over matter", Roc runs them off by mentally conjuring a giant ape and missile. Fighting fire with fire, the scientist who created the mind-over-matter machine gives Ace similar powers. They battle with a conjured dragon, knight, giant vacuum cleaner, mirrors, and more. Finally Ace uses spinning circles to hypnotize and capture Roc.